Mapping Expert's GPS Coordinates Help Find Missing Hiker

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA — Getting lost in the woods overnight can a frightening experience — not knowing when or if you will be found, or how long you'll be able to survive.

Rene Compean is back home in Palmdale, doing well now just days after technology — and someone with a huge passion for it — helped find him somewhere within the massive Angeles National Forest.

Benjamin Kuo, a satellite mapping enthusiast, helped police in Los Angeles County find Compean, who had been reported as a missing hiker, WILX and others reported.

Kuo used a photo of Compean's legs dangling over the edge of a cliff to lead police to GPS coordinates within one mile of where he was found., which ABC reported was near the Chilao Campgrounds.

“You don’t think that sitting behind a computer and looking at a picture and going, ‘Oh hey, that looks like it might be where he is,’ would result in someone getting rescued,” Kuo told WLIX.

The photo was sent from Compean to a friend, with a text message saying he was lost somewhere in the forest and his phone battery about to wear out, WILX and ABC reported. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department then shared the photo on social media, hoping an avid hiker would recognize the background and know where he was.

Kuo is an avid hiker himself, he told ABC.

"So I'm a little familiar with the area. And I said, 'Oh, I think I know where this guy is,' and found some GPS locations, and gave it to the search and rescue guy."

Sgt. John Gilbert of the sheriff's department told WLIX the coordinates matched cell phone data they were already using to narrow the search.

“And lo and behold, as they’re doing their search mission, they see our missing person on the ridge line,” Gilbert told the news outlet.

Police located Compean on Tuesday, and he was airlifted to safety. He told those who found him he was tired, hungry and cold.

And certainly thankful to be alive.